Friday, April 1, 2011

Diva Shoes

This is my friend Renee. She's rad.

Like me, she is a huge Giants fan (we're talking baseball here folks!), so when the G's had their first televised spring training game a few weeks back we of course threw a proper BBQ to kick off the season. Nothing like watching a ballgame with a case full of cold ones, black and orange rally hats, and men standing around the grill bitching about how to properly cook hot dogs.

And when I say we're Giants fans, I don't mean we hopped on the bandwagon when the guys made it to the playoffs and started winning World Championships like everyone else in the Bay. No, I mean that we watched almost every single game of the regular season and show up at the ballpark four hours early to secure Pablo Sandoval Bobbleheads, Irish Night Brian Wilson Chia-beards, and custom fucking bright orange San Francisco Giants snuggies because that's how bosses handle their biz:

But I digress. This post really has nothing to do with baseball; it's about what Renee wore on her feet the day she showed up to that first spring training game. While I find it a little embarrassing that I'm about to ramble off a blog post about Keds, please take a look Renee's pair before you judge me:

Yes, those would be characters from Mel Brooks' 1974 film Young Frankenstein. Pretty sweet eh? I think so. What's crazier though is the fact that she painted those shoes, by hand, herself. As in, no that is not a silkscreen or some other rip-off art-form, its eight hours of paint and paintbrush. Impressive, no?

Anyway, after staring at her shoes for a few innings, I realized pretty quickly that I had to get my hands on a pair myself. If she could paints these blokes from Young Frankenstein with such precision she surely could handle a custom order, right? So I asked.

Brett: Dude, so I gotta ask you something Renee.Renee: Eh?Brett: I want shoes like yours. I will pay you for shoes like yours. Can I pay you for shoes like yours?Renee: What, like paint you a pair of Young Frankenstein shoes? Hell yeah I'll take your money!Brett: Yes, like that, but with Lady Gaga on my left foot and Katy Perry on my right foot.Renee: ...Renee: ...Renee: Yes, I will totally take your money.

Granted when I asked Renee this question, I was fairly drunk from throwing down spring training Budweisers. She probably thought that I would forget the idea the next morning, or at least come to my senses and realize what a terrible idea (most people may think) it was. Neither of which happened the next morning, and not only that, the first thing I did when I crawled out of my bed was look for the two images for her to use as references. Within a half hour I had them, and posted them straight to her facebook:

Since then, I've officially cut her a check, so it's all official now: I will have probably the gayest pair of shoes in all of Santa Cruz, and I couldn't be more excited. I still need to buy a pair of Keds and give them to Renee, but she has already started sketching the designs and we're working through some extra pieces of flair that we could add along the backside of the shoes. Here is my quick artist rendition of my investment:

I will make sure to keep everyone posted as these come to life. There will be blog posts, yes yes.

The snuggies pic is very cute. My friend got three of them from her grandmother, and could not even sell them brand new for $1 at her garage sale. Will tell her now it would have made for a lovely group shot.

P.S. came to your blog via your blogger post on the follower issue in the help section.